


The Power of Three

by bluspirits



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Background Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Ghost Hunters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 06:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8435836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluspirits/pseuds/bluspirits
Summary: Elektra Natchios fights ghosts, gets the guy, and discovers the power of friendship.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for the au: ghosts square on my daredevil bingo card. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The ghost stuff is Karen’s idea originally. She comes into Elektra’s dorm room in the middle of the afternoon, almost bouncing up and down, dragging an only slightly less excited Claire behind her. It’s the middle of October, getting towards Halloween, which probably has something to do with what Karen says next. 

“Elektra! We’re going to go find a ghost!” 

Elektra looks up from her laptop and eyes the two of them skeptically, raising a single perfect eyebrow. “A ghost?” 

“Maybe ghosts, plural,” Karen corrects, smile unaffected by Elektra’s unimpressed attitude. 

Claire grins, looking back and forth between the other two girls. “Karen found all these articles about some haunted mansion where a bunch of people got murdered a while back when she was researching for her paper.”

“So we’re going to head out there, spend the night, see some ghosts. Some good, clean Halloween fun.” 

“But?” Elektra asks, because there has to be a but if they’re standing here in her dorm instead of on the road already. 

“But it’s out of the city and we need a ride. You’ve got a car and you don’t scare easy, so we thought of you,” Claire says. 

“Lucky me,” Elektra mutters. 

“You in?” Karen asks, ignoring the comment, tilting her head and smiling. 

“You didn’t want to ask Trish?” Elektra asks in response. 

Karen gives Elektra an ‘I’m onto you’ look. “Trish has to host her show tonight. You know that.” 

“Right,” she nods, even though, yes, she did already know that, and tries again. “Marci? Misty? Anyone else?” 

“Marci is not going to spend the night in an abandoned house, and we already asked Misty. She has class and then she and Luke were planning on going to a party.” 

“So I’m your last option?” 

Claire frowns. “Look, if you don’t want to go, just say no. We’ll leave you alone.” 

“But you’d be missing out if you didn’t come, seriously.” Karen adds. 

Elektra closes her laptop and stands. “Fine. But this better not be a waste of time. I want to see ghosts.” 

She picks up her car keys from her desk and twirls them around a finger. Karen and Claire glance at each other and smile at her. 

“You won’t regret this,” Karen says. 

Elektra isn’t sure that’s true, but she smiles back. “I’d better not.” 

\--

Elektra has no idea why she agreed to this. Or why Karen and Claire asked her. They could be considered friends, she guesses, but they’re not _friends _, if that makes sense. Elektra doesn’t have friends. And that’s partially her own fault, though she’d never admit it out loud. She has allies, sure, acquaintances, yeah, maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend if she has time, but not any real close friends. It makes things easier.__

__Which is why she’s a little confused as to how she ended up standing on the porch of a supposedly haunted mansion, next to two people who she would mark down in her head as classmates. Not friends._ _

__Do they think she’s their friend? Elektra can’t really guess right now, because it seems like they’ve forgotten she’s here._ _

__Karen is whispering in Claire’s ear, fingers playing with her hair, and Claire is laughing. Elektra taps her foot against the wood of the porch and sighs loudly, hoping to get their attention._ _

__It doesn’t work._ _

__Claire takes Karen’s hand and leans in closer. Elektra raises her eyebrows, and shakes her head, stepping up to the door. It’s an old victorian house, tall, with turrets and wooden details that are falling off. The building used to be blue, Elektra guesses, but nearly all the paint has faded and peeled, and now the house is mostly a weathered brown._ _

__She turns the loose gold doorknob, but the house is locked. She looks back over at Claire and Karen, still in their own little world, and weighs her options. It’s not even a real choice._ _

__She lines her foot up with the door and snaps her leg out. The door crashes open with a shattering noise that makes Claire and Karen jump._ _

__“Are we going to stand out here all night?” Elektra asks, waving a hand at the now open door, and the dark house beyond it._ _

__Karen looks away from the house, at the sky, which is painted with the faded orange of dusk. “It’ll be dark soon,” she says, which doesn’t answer Elektra’s question, and makes her think that despite her laughter, Karen is a little nervous._ _

__“After you,” Claire says, peering into the darkness._ _

__Elektra stretches her fingers and pulls out her phone, tapping on the flashlight and holding it out in front of her as she steps into the house. The floorboards creak ominously under her heels. Claire and Karen have got their flashlights out too, and the white light on the rotting wood of the walls casts new shadows and makes everything a thousand times creepier. Not that Elektra is creeped out. She shakes her head. She doesn’t get scared. No matter how creepy a house is, no matter how many stories about serial killers Karen had told them on the drive up._ _

__Her free hand reaches down and touches the knives strapped to her waist. She exhales slowly and feels much more calm._ _

__They've only made it a few yards into the house when there’s a loud cracking noise and a shout from behind her._ _

__“Shit!” Karen says emphatically._ _

__Elektra looks down to see Karen’s foot has fallen through the old floorboards and is stuck. Claire reaches out, takes Karen’s arm and pulls her out of the hole, and Elektra steps forward to take Karen’s other arm and help the now limping girl without even thinking about it. They help walk Karen over to the stairs down the hall and sit down. Elektra points her flashlight at Karen’s leg, revealing an ankle twisted at an odd angle, with bloody splinters embedded in it._ _

__“You think the blood will summon the ghost?” Karen jokes, voice tight._ _

__“No.” Claire says, assessing Karen’s ankle. “Hold still, I’m gonna try to take some of these out. Keep the light on,” she adds, talking to Elektra. She reaches down and begins to pull out the larger splinters. Elektra holds the light steady and watches Karen grit her teeth._ _

__“You’re doing good,” Claire says, as she removes one. When she’s gotten all the big ones out, she sits back and kisses Karen._ _

__Elektra turns off the flashlight._ _

__“Try not to put weight on this. We don’t have any ice or anything, but just be careful until we get back to the dorm,” Claire explains, taking Karen’s hand. Elektra sits down on the step below them and closes her eyes, keeping one hand on her phone and one on her knives._ _

__“So, I guess we’ll just stay here and wait for something to happen,” Karen says with a small, not quite sincere laugh._ _

__Elektra nods, even though neither of them will be able to tell in the dark._ _

__“Yes. Unless you want to leave now, we’re staying here. We’re not going exploring and getting more injured,” Claire agrees._ _

__Elektra feels a cold breeze across her shoulders, and shiver a little. She pulls out one of her knives and turns it over and over in her hand, letting the routine calm her._ _

__A long period of time passes, Claire and Karen leaning on each other, breathing slowing, like they’re slipping off to sleep, Elektra flipping her knife over and over and staring off into the darkness and ignoring the tingles running down her spine._ _

__At one point, Claire and Karen’s breathing stops. Just for moment, and then there’s a little exhale, both of them at the same time, the tiniest gasp._ _

__Elektra straightens up, but otherwise doesn’t move._ _

__“Hey. Elektra?” Karen says quietly, voice cautious and scared._ _

__“Yes?” she asks, turning to Karen. Claire hasn’t said anything yet. In fact, she hasn’t even moved. At all. Elektra isn’t even sure the other two girls are breathing._ _

__“I think we found the ghost,” Claire says out of the corner of her mouth, even quieter than a whisper._ _

__Karen and Claire are sitting pressed up against each other, frozen, staring at the space in front of them._ _

__Elektra shakes her head and turns the flashlight on her phone back on. And is frozen by what she sees._ _

__Caught in the harsh white of the light, is a figure, hovering above the ground, with a hazy gray form. She blinks in confusion. It’s an old man, faded and blurry, but definitely there. His eyes are a glowing red, and they’re staring right at Elektra._ _

__She can’t help it. She leans back instinctively, and holds her knife out in front of her in one hand. Karen’s hand grabs her wrist. Elektra tries to pull away, but her grip is too tight. She looks across Karen to see that the girl is also clutching Claire’s hand, though in a gentler grip._ _

__Her hand shakes._ _

__“See?” Karen whispers, voice quiet and scared. Elektra nods._ _

__“I see.”_ _

__The thing (the ghost, her mind suggests, but she pushes it down) drifts closer, head tilting. Its hands make claws. That’s when the humming begins to start._ _

__A buzz fills her head, so loud she can barely hear over it, making it almost impossible to think, and she’d think she was having some kind of panic attack, except for the fact that she doesn’t have panic attacks. She doesn’t panic._ _

__A warmth spreads out of Karen’s hands, which were warm and slightly sweaty before, but didn’t have this heat. It’s like she’s holding onto hot stones. The warmth works its way up her arms, suffusing her entire body._ _

__The ghost opens its mouth, which Elektra can see has no teeth. Then it moves forward again, faster this time. Elektra reacts without thinking. A strange threat is approaching, so she instinctively gets out of the way._ _

__She shoves Karen and Claire towards the wall and down the steps, making them stumble to their shaky feet. Then she drags them down the steps, just as the ghost reaches where they were sitting. It looks around a couple of times before turning and noticing them, now a couple feet from the steps, facing the ghost’s back. When it sees them, it smiles, and Elektra shivers. She tightens her hand around her knife._ _

__“Run,” she says to Claire and Karen, glancing at their faces. They’re scared, but they’ll last. They’ll do what they have to. They don’t move. She isn’t sure if they’ve registered her order._ _

__“Run,” she repeats, louder and stronger this time. Now they do it. There’s a moment of shock, before the word’s meaning reaches them, but then the move, dashing to the left and through a dark doorway, hands still intertwined._ _

__When Karen’s hand slips out of hers, Elektra feels the warmth slip away with her, and the humming quiet. She feels oddly lost in the moments after._ _

__Elektra shakes her head, takes a step closer to the ghost, and pulls another knife now that both hands are free._ _

__The ghosts leans forward, but notices her knives and hesitates a little._ _

__Elektra takes the opportunity and swings her arm out, slicing through the ghost’s chest. Unsurprisingly, the knife slips through him like he’s made of fog. He looks down in confusion, but doesn’t seem to be in any pain. She grits her teeth and takes another swing, this time with both hands._ _

__Once again, the ghost is unaffected. He grins after this swipe, having caught on, and no longer nervous about her weapons. Moves towards her, faster than before, reaching out for her. She ducks under his arm, and, ignoring the nausea as she gets closer, drives a knife into one of his red eyes. This time it sticks. He reels back, and she pulls the knife out and runs in the same direction Claire and Karen went, trying not to feel ashamed for her cowardice. She finds Claire and Karen pressed against the wall of the room._ _

__Karen grabs Elektra’s hand as soon as she gets within reach, and Elektra knows the knife is slicing into her palm, but she doesn’t let go. The humming starts up again, and the warmth creeps in. Claire and Karen’s heartbeats pound in her ears._ _

__The ghost enters the dark room, moving faster, one eye and even brighter red, the one she stabbed dim. His face is contorted in a grotesque snarl. He’s angry._ _

__Elektra begins to raise her knife again, when she hears Claire and Karen. She can’t tell if their speaking out loud or if this is in her head, carried by the same channel as the buzzing and warmth._ _

__“Trust us,” they say. Elektra doesn’t want to. She can’t trust anyone besides herself. But the ghost is getting closer, and she can’t see any other choice._ _

__So she lets them in._ _

__Claire raises her free hand, and Elektra raises hers at the same time, arm drawn upwards. Karen tightens her grip on their hands. Elektra and Claire stretch their hands out farther, and Elektra can feel the ghost’s presence, a different frequency humming, pressing against their consciousness. It twists and scratches and claws at their minds, but they shove back._ _

__The ghosts flinches back at their power, and they push harder. Elektra can see the ghost bending under their pressure. It sinks towards the floor, hands clawing at its face._ _

__“Leave,” the three of them says as one. The ghost lets out a high, shrill scream before dissolving, dissipating like fog under the sun._ _

__All three of them let out a long exhale at the same time. They slide to the ground, fingers still connected. They’re all reluctant to disconnect, and all exhausted._ _

__Karen flops backward, careful not to move her ankle too much, resting her head against the dusty wooden floor._ _

__“So. Ghosts are real,” she says casually, staring the the ceiling. She swings her arms up, punching the air. "Happy Halloween, everyone!"_ _

__Claire and Elektra look down at her, then turn to each other. As soon as they make eye contact, they start to laugh, maybe a little hysterically. Karen joins in. They stay there, in the dark dirty room of some really actually haunted mansion, laughing and talking until the sun begins to rise._ _

__\----_ _

__Ever since the haunted house (God, she wishes she had some kind of better name for what happened), she’s been seeing ghosts everywhere.  
Not any of her own. She doesn’t know whether that’s a good or bad thing. _ _

__Most people’s ghosts don’t have a distinct form. They’re just blurry shapes, outlines. Most of them aren’t of people, like she’d expect. They’re things. She saw one woman with a glowing iv stand dragging after her down the street, a man with a faded gun holster around his waist._ _

__There are some people though, like the one at the house. But mostly they’re faded, badly defined. She hasn’t seen any clear or malevolent ghosts since._ _

__She knows that Karen and Claire have been seeing all of this too. They whisper more, and not in the romantic, intimate way they did before, but in a sad hushed conversation. Sharing the ghosts they’ve seen._ _

__Elektra doesn’t attempt to join in._ _

__She appreciates that there are other people experiencing this, but she doesn’t need to form some kind of support group. She doesn’t need to share her feelings._ _

__Still, the three of them are closer now, almost by requirement._ _

__She’s been outside one of the university’s labs for an hour now, watching harried students rush by. Karen had promised she’d be done by two, but that had turned out to be false. She’s sitting in a plastic chair, one of six, across the hall from the lab, disdainfully considering the months old magazines piled on the coffee table next to her._ _

__She spends a solid amount of her time watching the man four seats down from her. He has one of the most distinct ghosts she’s seen recently. A red boxing robe draped over his shoulders. It’s not always there, but when it is, it’s so clear it almost looks real._ _

__He’s blind, cane folded in his lap, so she doesn’t worry about being caught staring at him. She taps her fingers against the armrest of the chair and he tilts his head towards her. She smiles._ _

__She can hear the sound of footsteps approaching. Glancing quickly at the ground, she recognizes Karen’s shoes. She looks back, watches the man shift slightly and wonders who he’s waiting for._ _

__“Hey. Robbie and Peter said they’d look into it, so that’s something,” Karen says happily, stopping in front of Elektra. She gives the stranger one last glance and then turns to Karen, who has followed her gaze and is grinning smugly at her, hand on her hip._ _

__Karen nods at the man and smiles. Elektra shakes her head and raises three fingers, then folds one down. And another._ _

__As soon as she runs out of fingers, the ghost reappears around his shoulders. Karen nods again, slower this time, with a sadder understanding._ _

__Elektra stands. “Are we done here?”_ _

__“Seems like,” Karen says, turning to leave. Elektra follows her._ _

__Karen starts talking, “I don’t think they really believed me, but they thought the pictures were cool, and they seemed interested, so I think we’re getting somewhere,”_ _

__Elektra nods. They had known it was a long shot that someone would believe their story about ghosts and hauntings, but of all the science people that could help, they had picked out Robbie and Peter as the most likely to listen to them._ _

__“I think they just liked the idea of ghosts. They might’ve thought I was kidding, you know, with Halloween coming up.”_ _

__“So. You gonna ever talk to the guy?” Karen asks, nodding her head back down the hallway to be clear what guy she means._ _

__Elektra stares her down, not saying anything, and is a little disappointed in herself when the glare isn’t enough to get Karen to back down._ _

__“You should,” she says knowingly, with a smile. “You two would be good together.”_ _

__That statement pulls Elektra from her stony silence. “You don’t even know him. Why would you think that?”_ _

__“I do know him,” Karen says, not looking at Elektra and grinning when she stares at Karen in shock and almost stumbles._ _

__“What? Who is he?”_ _

__“Thought you didn’t care,” Karen can’t stop smiling now, but Elektra doesn’t care._ _

__“Karen. Name.” she isn’t sure why she wants to know so bad, but she decides she’ll examine that later. Once she’s got a name._ _

__Karen laughs. “His name’s Matt Murdock. He’s pre-law.”_ _

__Elektra nods and rolls her eyes at Karen, who is trying to hold back laughter._ _

__“Glad you’re having a good time,” she says, and walks a little faster, reaching the end of the hallway before Karen._ _

__“So, can we expect a June wedding?” Karen shouts after her. “Can I be the maid of honor? Please?”_ _

__\----_ _

__Elektra has managed to successfully put all thoughts of the man in the hallway out of her head and focus on her work for the past few days, even though Karen keeps grinning at her, and she’s pretty sure she’s told Claire, because she’s been laughing at all the right times too._ _

__Elektra doesn’t really mind the teasing, though she stays defensive because she knows that’s what they expect. Still, despite her unamused facade, she has to keep herself from laughing a few times._ _

__Claire and Karen spend a lot of time in Elektra’s dorm room recently, a fact that she’s now noticing as they pretend to plan her and Matt’s wedding._ _

__“Do you think Foggy can be the best man? Would you be okay with that?” Claire asks, looking up from the piece of paper she and Karen are bent over. She thinks they might be drawing ‘Elektra+Matt’ surrounded by hearts. They’re more invested in this fictional relationship than she is._ _

__“I barely know Foggy,” Elektra says, “And I haven’t even had one conversation with my hypothetical fiance.”_ _

__“Foggy is Matt’s best friend, and if Karen and I are going to be maids of honor, he should get to have one of his friends as best man,” Claire continues like Elektra didn’t say anything._ _

__Elektra shakes her head and returns to her math homework._ _

__But the make fun of Elektra hour is brought to an end by a loud knocking on the door of her dorm room._ _

__Gwen Stacy, a sophomore who hangs out with Peter and is in Elektra’s multivariable calculus class, is standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall, looking tired and scared. She looks like she ran here, out of breath, her hair a mess._ _

__“I need your help,” she says after taking several deep breaths._ _

__“Yeah, yeah. What’s wrong?” Claire asks, standing first and walking over to Gwen, touching her shoulder and inviting her into the room._ _

__Karen and Elektra both stand too, but stay farther back, Elektra with her arms crossed._ _

__“Peter said you guys had been talking about this stuff, so I thought-” she shakes her head and takes a choked breath. “I thought maybe you’d know what to do.”_ _

__Karen, Elektra and Claire glance at each other._ _

__“Can you explain exactly what’s wrong?” Claire asks gently. Gwen shivers._ _

__“So, I went back to my dorm, and it was like five degrees colder, things were floating, and someone had written ‘get out’ on my wall. It was like horror movie stuff. And Peter said that you,” she points at Karen, “had been talking about ghosts with him earlier. So I figured you guys would believe me.”_ _

__“Yeah, we believe you,” Karen says, nodding._ _

__There’s a moment of silence._ _

__“So? Can you help? Please,” Gwen says, looking directly at Elektra, who hasn’t said anything yet._ _

__The three girls glance at each other. They’re not exactly exorcists. Just being able to see ghosts doesn’t make them the goddamn ghostbusters. But Elektra knows that Claire and Karen won’t say no to Gwen, and if she’s being honest, she knows she won’t either._ _

__“Yeah, we can help,” Claire says, turning back to Gwen._ _

__And just like that, it’s decided. They’re going to fight a ghost._ _

__Gwen leads them to her room, rambling the whole time about Peter blowing stuff up in chemistry so she won’t have to think about the fact that there’s a ghost in her room._ _

__They stand in silence outside the room for about a minute, waiting to see who will move first, even though they all know it will be Elektra._ _

__“Okay.” Claire says, nodding towards the door. Karen takes her hand and they both take a deep breath. Gwen shrinks back against the hallway wall._ _

__Elektra opens to door and steps into the dorm room, Claire and Karen right behind her._ _

__Her eyes are drawn to the ceiling as soon as she enters the room. There are strings and strings of orange pumpkin lights criss-crossing the room, filling it with an eerie orange glow._ _

__“Nice,” Elektra says dryly. She flicks the light switch, but nothing turns on._ _

__“Well, that’s not a good sign,” Claire says, sighing in anticipation of what they all know is coming._ _

__The floor begins to shake, and Karen and Claire step closer to each other while Elektra takes a step in front of them._ _

__The ghost rises from the floor, a glowing grey figure with bright, burning blue eyes, long limp hair and a loose old fashioned dress that drips with phantom water. A drowning victim, Elektra guesses. It drifts vaguely upwards until its whole body is out of the floor, tips of its toes just brushing the ground._ _

__“Hello. I’m assuming that politely asking you to leave will have no effect?” she says, tilting her head. The ghost mirrors her motion, but stays silent._ _

__“I’ll take that as yes,” Elektra says with a small shrug. “It’s okay. It’s more fun for us this way anyway.”_ _

__She pulls a knife from her waist and twirls it in her hand. It’s not strictly necessary to have weapons to fight a ghost, but it makes her feel better._ _

__The ghost opens its mouth, but no words come out. Its throat bobs up and down silently and its chest rises and falls quickly, almost like it’s choking._ _

__Elektra looks back quickly to see Gwen backing up and hyperventilating in the doorway. The ghost doesn’t seem too aggressive, and satisfied that Gwen will be safe, Elektra turns back to the spirit._ _

__Karen and Claire step up so that they’re even with Elektra and join hands. Karen reaches out, fingers brushing Elektra’s knuckles, and she switches her knife to the other hand and reluctantly takes Karen’s hand. She feels the humming start in her bones and the warmth rush through Karen’s hand, into her’s, up her arm and into her heart._ _

__The ghost twitches and reels back a little. The three of them step forward in unison, and the ghost jerks again, harder this time. Elektra and Claire, both on the ends of their little three person chain, raise their free hands, and the ghost opens its mouth again, this time to scream._ _

__The sound is unearthly and deafening. Elektra flinches, but manages not to put her hands to her ears. She watches cracks snake across the class of the windows. The Halloween pumpkin lights shatter, orange glass raining down, slicing their skin._ _

__Elektra, Claire and Karen take deep breath. The ghost screams again, and folds in on itself, beginning to shrink. Its hands claw at its face, and the water sliding off of it flies through the air, leaving cold goosebumps on Elektra’s skin._ _

__There’s no word of power to this, no spell, no incantation, just them, the three of them, together, their power combined, their spirits working to banish this one. There’s no instruction manual, no guide, but the three of them know instinctively what they need to do._ _

__Elektra and Claire thrust their hands out farther, pushing against the presence of the ghost. Karen’s grip on their hands tightens, filling them with more power._ _

__The ghost goes quiet, and folds up completely. Its form begins to fall apart, dripping away with the water from its dress, puddling on the floor and slipping into the cracks of the floorboards._ _

__They let out a sigh and relax at the same time, hands still joined, minds still connected. Elektra remover her hand first and steps away from the other two._ _

__Gwen stands from her position crouched on the ground in the back, and steps forward cautiously. Claire blinks for a minute coming back to reality, before noticing Gwen and helping her to her bed. “You okay?”_ _

__Elektra thinks the answer to that question is fairly obvious, but she doesn’t say anything. Gwen sits on her dorm room bed, hunched over and shaking a little. “What-”_ _

__She starts, then cuts herself off and shakes her head, like she’s trying to clear out the events of the last hour or so. “How do you guys know about all of this?”_ _

__“Honestly? We have no idea what we’re doing,” Claire says with a small smile, sitting down next to Gwen._ _

__Gwen laughs a little, and has the look on her face of someone who’s just realized how lucky they’ve been. “But you knew about ghosts. You didn’t think I was insane. How?”_ _

__“We saw one, at a house out of the city. Our working theory right now is that in the right situations, you can see one, and once you see one, you start noticing them all. Like when you figure out an optical illusion and you can’t see the original picture anymore. Or something.”_ _

__“So you might start seeing ghosts all over now,” Karen adds._ _

__“Joy.” Gwen says flatly. “How do you know it won’t be back?”_ _

__“We just know?” Karen shrugs._ _

__“Okay,” Gwen says, worried, but inclined to trust them._ _

__“You’ll be fine. That wasn’t even a harmful ghost. Just one who’d gotten lost.” Elektra says._ _

__“Then I really don’t want to see one who’s harmful.” Gwen shivers again and hugs her shoulders._ _

__“No, you don’t,” Elektra agrees gravely._ _

__There’s a long moment of silence. Elektra, Karen, and Claire begin to drift towards the door, making their way across the shards of scattered orange glass._ _

__“Thank you,” Gwen says, as they reach the door._ _

__“Our pleasure,” Elektra says, glancing over her shoulder._ _

__\---_ _

__It’s almost exactly two years and forty ghosts later that Foggy Nelson comes running into the library and slams himself down across the table from Elektra, Karen, and Claire. Elektra looks up from her books slowly, glances at him, and then looks right back down without saying anything._ _

__“I have a ghost problem.” he says, a second after sitting down._ _

__“So?” Claire asks, not unkindly, put gently prompting._ _

__“You guys are all ‘I see dead people’, so I thought you could help,”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“You guys do that ghost stuff. Gwen and Peter said. And Robbie won’t shut up about the pictures you gave him. He shows everyone. If there’s a ghost problem, you’re the girls to go to.”_ _

__“What’s the problem?” Karen asks. Elektra still doesn’t look up._ _

__“There’s some kind ghost. Obviously.”_ _

__“It is Halloween. Are you sure it’s really a ghost?” Karen asks, with a small smile on her face. Foggy glowers at her._ _

__“Where?” Claire asks, drawing Foggy’s attention away from Karen._ _

__“In my dorm.” he says, like it’s obvious, which it kind of is._ _

__“Are you sure it’s a ghost?” They’ve had that before, people saying their place was haunted, because things kept moving, but it turned out to be their dog or something._ _

__“Shit keeps flying around, and last night, I saw a creepy little kid, covered blood, floating in the middle of the room. I feel pretty certain.” he pauses and adds as afterthought: “Matt doesn’t believe me, but I know something is up.”_ _

__“Okay, okay. We’ll take a look.” Claire turns to Elektra, who now looks up and stares at her flatly. “You want to head over there soon? Call us when you’ve got it and we’ll come over.”_ _

__“You can’t just come with me?” Elektra asks, she’s not sure if she really wants them to come, but she asks anyway._ _

__“This is due in an hour. We’ll be there,” Claire says, pointing down at the notebook she has open on the table. Elektra sighs and stands, stretching and throwing her stuff in her bag._ _

__“Lead the way,” she says, gesturing to Foggy, who stands after her._ _

__“Actually,” he says, and Elektra puts her hands on her hips, waiting, “I have class now. I’m sure you’ve got this, though.”_ _

__“You can’t skip class for a ghost?”_ _

__“Nope. Thanks!” he says, grabbing his bag and walking away. Elektra stares at him, then turns to Claire and Karen, a suspicious look on her face._ _

__“Why do I feel like this is a trap?”_ _

__“No. No trap.” Karen shakes her head._ _

__“You got this. We’ll be right behind you,” Claire says, waving goodbye, even though Elektra isn’t moving. She rolls her eyes and walks away. Whatever they’re planning, it doesn’t matter. And, as wrong as it feels, she trusts them to be there when she needs them._ _

__\---_ _

__She knocks on the door of Foggy’s dorm room_ _

__“Who is it?” a voice says from inside._ _

__“Ghostbusters,” she says. The door opens. Standing in it is the man from the hallway two years ago. Which isn’t unexpected, considering she knew that he was Foggy’s roommate. She can’t see his ghost right now. He looks good. She smiles, before realizing it and trying to put on a blank face, even though he can’t see her expression._ _

__“Matt Murdock,” he says, holding out his hand._ _

__Elektra ignores it and walks past him into the room. “I know,” she says._ _

__“What? How?” he asks, turning to follow her._ _

__Elektra considers not answering, but decides it’s not exactly secret information. “I know Karen.”_ _

__“Oh. Right. You must be Elektra. She mentioned you.”_ _

__“Did she?” Elektra raises an eyebrow, keeping her voice carefully detached._ _

__“She did,” he says, and doesn’t expand on it, which is a little infuriating._ _

__“Hmm,” Elektra says, trailing her hand along the wall and looking over at him. “So where’s the ghost?”_ _

__“No idea.”_ _

__“Well, that’s not helpful.” She can’t feel the presence of a ghost in the room, and is beginning to think that Foggy, Karen, and Claire arranged this just to get her to meet Matt. But it’s been at least a year since they’ve joked about him. So she keeps her eye out._ _

__Something pops into the corner of her vision, and a low hum begins to buzz through her body. She turns, and sees a small boy, grey and floating, with glowing yellow eyes, and red blood dripping off of him and disappearing before it hits the ground._ _

__“There you are,” she says and smiles. Matt turns to face the ghost too._ _

__She pulls out a knife with one hand and a phone with the other. Glancing up at the ghost, which hasn’t moved, every few seconds, she texts Claire._ _

__Then she slips the phone back into her pocket and focuses fully on the ghost. She can definitely keep it occupied until they get here._ _

__Of course, it’s at that exact moment that the ghost blinks out of existence._ _

__“Where-” Elektra snaps, frustrated. She turns back and forth a few time, looking around the room._ _

__“There.” Matt says, and she looks at him in surprise before following where he’s pointing. There’s nothing there on that side of the room. Then the humming starts again, and the ghost materializes right where Matt is pointing. She stares at him in shock. The only way he’d have known it was going to show up there was if he could feel the humming too. Meaning he’d seen a ghost before._ _

__“You can see ghosts too?” Elektra asks, completely ignoring the rematerialized ghost watching them, very careful to keep all the surprise and confusion out of her voice._ _

__“Um. I’m not sure ‘see’ is exactly the word I’d use,” he says, giving her a thin, pained smile._ _

__Elektra, who is not in the habit of apologizing and doesn’t ever want to be, shrugs and moves on, making a note to be more careful. “You can sense ghosts too. So why call me?”_ _

__“I didn’t call you. Foggy did.” he shrugs. “I’m still on the side of ignoring all this.”_ _

__“That’s not very smart.”_ _

__“Well, that makes two of us.” When she looks at him, he’s smiling._ _

__“What?” she manages not to sound too affronted._ _

__“You came here alone. Not very smart.” He shrugs._ _

__She glares at him, even though in the back of her head, she knows he might be right._ _

__“Well, now I’ve got you,” Elektra says, voice full of forced positivity. The ‘obviously’ goes unspoken. She glances at the ghost. It’s still watching them, still dripping blood everywhere, still hasn’t moved. She turns back to Matt, satisfied that the thing isn’t going anywhere._ _

__“You didn’t know that when you came here. And I can’t banish ghosts.”_ _

__“You can’t?”_ _

__“Don’t you think I would have done that already if I could?”_ _

__“I don’t know. I did say you weren’t smart, didn’t I?”_ _

__Matt groans he waves his hand at the ghost. “Could you just fix this?”_ _

__“I’ll see what I can do,” she says, flipping her knife a few times, which earns her a weird look from Matthew, who must have heard the motion._ _

__She steps forward, but stops and looks back at him.“Have you tried with Foggy? You two seem close.”_ _

__“Have I tried what?” his arms are crossed, and there’s a small frown on his face. He doesn’t want to be having this conversation. Whether because of the ghost next to them or for personal reasons, she doesn’t know._ _

__“Banishing a ghost.” she doesn’t look at him, keeps staring at the ghost in the corner. It grins at her, blood trickling into its mouth._ _

__“No. I’m not going to put him in danger trying to do something I know won’t work.” he pauses. “Besides, you need three people.”_ _

__“And you don’t have two friends?” she knows he’s friends with Karen and Claire. But they’re her two. He can’t have them._ _

__“Do you?”_ _

__“Yes.” she’s surprised when the answer springs to her lips immediately and easily. And more surprised when she finds it’s entirely sincere._ _

__“Huh,” is his only response. He steps back and once again gestures towards the ghost. “He’s all yours.”_ _

__“Thanks.” she takes a deep breath and prepares to charge the ghost. Maybe antagonizing it isn’t the best idea, but she’s sure that Karen and Claire will be here soon._ _

__But the ghost makes the first move. It dashes forward, stretching its arms out, and shoves her backward, pinning her to the wall. All the air is knocked out of her body. She’s never had a ghost touch her before._ _

__She stabs it in the eye, over and over until its grip loosens and she can wrench herself free. She can’t grasp at it to pull it off, so she twists and bends, trying to force it off. A few drops of its blood hit her skin, leaving little red marks like bug bites._ _

__When she finally gets free, she goes to stab it again, but it vanishes._ _

__“Shit,” Matt whispers. “Are you okay?”_ _

__“Fine. Thanks for all your help,” she says coldly, taking a deep breath and looking at Matt._ _

__“You seemed like you had it under control.” he shrugs._ _

__She doesn’t respond, just keeps scanning the room for the ghost._ _

__There’s a knock at the door that nearly causes her to jump._ _

__“Finally,” she mutters. Claire and Karen open the door._ _

__“So, how’s it going?” Karen asks._ _

__Matt and Elektra both stare at her. “Awful.” they both say flatly at the same time._ _

__“Okay. I’m guessing you found the ghost,” Claire says._ _

__“Yeah.” Elektra steps closer to them, and Matt moves a step closer to her._ _

__“Ready?” Karen takes Claire’s hand then looks at Elektra. Elektra reaches down and grabs Karen’s hand. The humming starts, and the warmth begins to flow up her arm._ _

__“Where is it?” Claire asks._ _

__“Matthew?” Elektra says. Karen and Claire look at her in confusion, but she just waits._ _

__He blinks, and smiles at her. Then he points directly in front of them, and sure enough, the ghost materializes there slowly._ _

__Matt steps back, and Claire and Elektra raise their free hands. The warmth stretches into her fingertips, and the humming gets louder. The ghost screams. At this point, Elektra is pretty used to the ghost screams. She doesn’t even flinch._ _

__All three of them step forward, hands pressing out, forcing the ghost backwards. It claps its hands over its ears and screams louder. Her ears begin to sting. Karen’s grip on their hands tightens._ _

__The ghost’s scream is suddenly cut off. It clutches desperately at its throat. Elektra and Claire pull their arms back, then forcefully shove them out again. The ghost is thrown into the wall and pinned there by the force of their will. It’s humming becomes softer while their humming grows. Claire and Elektra close their hands into fists, and the ghost lets out a wheeze, attempting one last scream. The outer edges of its form begin to fade and it starts to crumple in on itself, flow of blood slowing._ _

__It struggles and twitches, but slowly begins to fade into the wall. Elektra grits her teeth and gives it one last push, leaning forward. The ghost’s head snaps back in and unnatural move, and half its head goes through the wall. It pushes back against the three of them, but Karen square her shoulders and takes a deep breath, The warmth rushes through her, now not just warm, but hot._ _

__The ghost’s cold form presses on the edge of their mind. Claire and Elektra look at each other and nod._ _

__At the same time, they snap their fingers. The ghost explodes, grey noncorporeal dust flying everywhere, mixed with the yellow shards of its eyes and drops of blood. The ghost bits hit their faces like a puff of flour, but don’t leave any visible trace._ _

__Elektra shakes her head and grins. She removes her hand from Karen’s and wraps that arm around Karen’s shoulder. Claire and Karen look at her in surprise._ _

__“What? I can’t hug my friends?” she asks, fake offended._ _

__Claire laughs and puts her arm around Karen, the pulls the two girls into a tight hug. Elektra sighs and lets the humming fill her head._ _

__“You two are great,” she mutters, not really expecting them to hear her._ _

__“Aww, thanks,” Karen says, hugging her a little tighter. Claire laughs._ _

__“Thank you,” Elektra says, this time intending it to be heard. She’s not totally sure what she’s thanking them for, but it feels important that she say it._ _

__“Yeah,” Claire says, like she instinctively understands what Elektra means. She probably does. Elektra lets herself stay in the hug for a little longer, pushing down the voices in her head telling her this isn’t smart or safe or strong._ _

__She reluctantly pulls away from the group when she glances back and notices Matt holding his ears._ _

__“You okay?” she asks him._ _

__“Yeah. It was just kind of loud.” he pauses. “Is it always like that?”_ _

__“Pretty much.” she grins. He smiles back at her._ _

__Karen hits her gently on the shoulder, and Claire pokes her in the side. There’s a low hum, not like a ghost, but like the connection between the two of them. Impressions of joking wedding planning flow into her head. She looks at Claire and Karen, who are grinning. She laughs._ _

__“What?” Matt asks._ _

__“Nothing.” she shakes her head and smiles._ _

__Claire nudges her shoulder and nods at Matt. Elektra takes a deep breath._ _

__She walks up to Matt, who looks at her questioningly. Before she can second guess herself, she leans forward and kisses him, hand coming up to touch his cheek. He kisses her back and she smiles into it._ _

__She can hear Claire and Karen laughing behind them._ _

__"Fucking finally," Karen says._ _

__She’s never felt happier._ _


End file.
